The Monday Round-Up: Big Weekend At the Races

Jackson, Llanos, Weiss, Thoes, Sapunov, Hufe, Simmonds and Collington take wins in a busy weekend of racing in the U.S., Mexico, China and Malaysia.

Races at a Glance

IRONMAN Arizona

Llanos and Jackson too tough to tame in Tempe

Tempe provided a picturesque desert backdrop for athletes from around the world at the 2018 IRONMAN Arizona triathlon. Eneko Llanos (Vitoria-Gasteiz, Spain) and Heather Jackson (Bend, Ore.) battled a competitive professional field to claim victories at the event with a time of 8:04:24 and 8:39:18, respectively.

In the men's race, Andreas Dreitz (DEU) and TJ Tollakson (USA) got off the bike together with a five minute buffer to their closest chaser. The pair exchanged the lead a number of times in the first half of the run while veteran Eneko Llanos quietly clawed his way towards the front. Llanos made the pass for the lead at around 15 miles, and the 41-year-old managed to hold that position to claim the win and a guaranteed starting spot at the 2019 IRONMAN World Championship.

On the women's side, Heather Jackson chased Carrie Lester throughout the entire 112 miles of the bike. It took the first half of the marathon for Jackson to close in and assume the lead. Jackson proved untouchable for the final 13 miles, taking the victory in a winning time of 8:39:18.

IRONMAN Cozumel

Weiss makes it three wins in Cozumel, Thoes wins her first IRONMAN

Michael Weiss (AUT) is fond of the Mexican island of Cozumel, and for good reason. He notched his third win at IRONMAN Cozumel, executing his typical race strategy. By the conclusion of the three-loop bike course, Weiss had managed to open up a 11-minute lead heading out on the run. The lanky Austrian clocked the second-fastest run of the day to take the win by a 12:39 margin.

In the women's race, Germany’s Svenja Thoes spent much of the day chasing Angela Naeth (CAN) on the bike and the story was much the same on the run. Thoes, a 2016 IRONMAN World Championship age-group champion, pulled off a upset move when she made the pass on Naeth with just a little more than 7 km’s to go on the run, and held her off to take the win by 45 seconds.

IRONMAN Maylasia

Sapunov and Hufe Take Malaysia

Late in their careers, both Daniil Sapunov and Mareen Hufe had plenty to celebrate with their victories at the IRONMAN Malaysia at Langkawi. Sapunov (UKR), 36, achieved his breakthrough IRONMAN victory after nearly a decade at the distance. He came out of the swim with the leaders and took charge when defending champion Romain Guillaume cramped badly late on the bike after the pair pushed clear of chasers. From there, he was in a class of his own on the run to win in 8:33:37, which was 21:37 clear of second place Kaito Tohara (Japan) and 35:35 back to Urs Muller (Switzerland) in third. A fourth in Malaysia in 2016 was the previous best for the 36-year-old triple Olympian.

Entering the women's race, 40-year-old Hufe was twice a runner-up at Langkawi in 2016 and 2017. She trailed American Jocelyn McCauley by six minutes out of the water, but caught her at the 110km mark on the bike, before taking a 4:30 lead at the start of marathon. As McCauley faded and eventually withdrew, Hufe produced a 3:23 marathon run in challenging conditions to cruise to victory in 9:25:22, which was fifth-fastest overall. There were impressive podiums for Simona Krivankova from the Czech Republic, who ran up to second place in 9:55:36, and Italy’s Federica de Nicola, who enjoyed her first professional podium appearance in 9:57:29.

IRONMAN 70.3 Xiamen

American Kevin Collington stood atop the podium for the first time in 2018, and Swiss star Imogen Simmonds continued her winning record in China with victories at IRONMAN 70.3 Xiamen.

Entering the race as the strongest swimmer/runner in the field, Collington was the favorite to prevail in the men’s race. He worked his way to the front of the field by the 7km mark on the run and looked to be cruising. However Canada’s Trevor Wurtele was charging hard, and had whittled down Collington's lead to only about 25 seconds with 5km left. Collington responded by upping the pace to a 3:36 kph average for the next 3kms, which was good enough to earn him the victory in 3:48:43.

In the women's race, Switzerland’s Imogen Simmonds, who was runner-up last year, used the fastest swim and bike of the day (and second-fastest run) to secure the top spot on the podium. Simmonds edged away on the bike with a 2:16:25 effort, opening a 1:43 lead on Heather Wurtele heading out onto the run. No one was able to challenge Simmonds, and she took the victory in 4:12:41, more than four minutes ahead of Wurtele, and five minutes ahead of third-place finisher Sarah Piampiano (USA).

The Buzz

Determined…and creative

A military mom made national news after pumping milk during the marathon leg of IRONMAN 70.3 Arizona. Jaime Sloan made the decision to pump-on-the-run when she realized she was on track for a PR. The 34-year-old mother of two and Air Force Staff Sgt. told People magazine "I knew that I would PR because I had a really amazing bike ride and a pretty decent swim. I had brought my hand pump and I just decided to go for it…I didn’t want to stop and lose the time on my race."

Explore Patagonia for less

Described as "most intriguing" (The Wall Street Journal), "the best value" (Lonely Planet), and "inexpensive with no red flags" (Frommer’s) Argentina is on everyone’s travel bucket list. Fueling the surge in interest is a very favorable exchange rate between the peso and the dollar. A CNN Travel article lists the best things to do in Bariloche (in the Patagonia region of Argentina), also home to the IRONMAN 70.3 Bariloche. CNN also recommends kite surfing, trekking between mountain huts, and indulging in local specialty chocolate, microbrews and legendary Argentinian beef.

But 80% off is still a scam

Just in time for Black Friday (and Cyber Monday) Outside Magazine published an exposé of gear scammer sites that target outdoor consumers. Scammers are creating evil twins of outdoor gear websites, using a similar URL and copying logos, images and text. The only differences are much lower prices -- and the doppelgänger doesn’t send you your stuff. Scammers often rely on Facebook advertising because it’s easy and cheap. So between Black Friday and Cyber Monday, watch for doppelgänger sites in your newsfeed. Double check URLs, and if a price is too good to be true, it probably is.